Skiers found the slopes at a Scottish resort closed yesterday, not because the snow was sparse, but rather there was too much of it.

Cairngorm Mountain in northeast Scotland more often deals with a lack of snow but this year it is grappling with a different problem - 185 centimetres of snow since Christmas in the worst bout of winter weather since the 1970s.

Resort staff toiled all day on Thursday to clear snow, but they arrived back yesterday to find their hard work was in vain after strong winds blew snow across access roads. Colin Matthew, the head of ski patrol said, "The mountain and all facilities, access roads and car parks will be closed today to allow digging out after major drifting during the storm".

The resort's snow ploughs cannot even get through the drifting and it has had to hire special heavy diggers. Resort spokesman Colin Kirkwood said it could be Monday before the resort reopens.

Cairngorm is Britain's sixth highest mountain. (AFP)

Blue ray

An enormous television screen showing a pornographic film caused a midnight traffic jam in central Moscow as stunned motorists slammed on the brakes to gawk at the procedures.

The owner of the advertising screen, which sits atop a main road about two kilometres south of the Kremlin, told the state-run RIA news agency that hackers had broken into the screen's computer system and turned on the porn.

A short clip showing cars slowing to a halt to look at the screen sprung up on youtube.com and internet sites yesterday across Russia, a country which banned nudity on television before the Soviet Union fell in 1991. (Reuters)

Romanovs demand Russia probe

The self-proclaimed heir to Russia's imperial throne asked prosecutors yesterday to re-open an investigation into the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who were shot dead by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

The Russian Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit said it had formally closed a criminal investigation into the killing of Nicholas II because too much time had elapsed since the crime and because those responsible had died.

But monarchists said a resumption of the criminal case is essential if Russia is finally to come to terms with its brutal past, years after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

"This case is essential for Russia," said Alexander Zakatov, who represents Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, a Romanov who styles herself as the heir to the imperial throne.

"Russians need to know about the fate of the tsarist family and all of the other victims of the Communist regime. There should be a clear legal verdict on this," said Ms Zakatov, who heads the chancellery of Russia's so-called Imperial House. (Reuters)

Quiet please! Noise irks commuters

Taking the train in Japan and want to avoid annoying fellow passengers? Keep conversation to a whisper, turn down your iPod and put your cellphone on vibration mode, a recent survey by the railway association showed.

Many foreigners who ride on Japan's vast network of subways and commuter trains complain about the pushing and shoving that accompanies getting into the train and the reluctance to give up seats for senior citizens and pregnant women.

But for Japanese commuters, noise is the biggest issue, with loud conversation and music from headphones the top two offenders and cellphone ringtones in fourth place, the survey by the Association of Japanese Private Railways showed.

Applying make-up ranked as the sixth-biggest breach of rail etiquette. (Reuters)

UN headquarters in Dubai?

Dubai said yesterday it has offered to host the headquarters of the United Nations should the global organisation want to leave New York, a sign the Gulf emirate's ambitions remain high despite its debt problems.

Dubai's offer comes days after an article by an academic and a real estate developer on the website of Forbes magazine called for the UN to relocate to Dubai.

"Bringing the United Nations to Dubai makes sense," wrote Joel Kotkin, a fellow in urban futures at Chapman University, and Robert J. Cristiano, the California university's "real estate professional in residence."

"New York gets rid of one of its worst welfare cheats, and Dubai finds new tenants to fill its vacant towers," they said, describing the UN headquarters as a "pain in the butt" which "pays no taxes and annoys hard-working New Yorkers with its sloth, pretensions and cavalier disregard for traffic laws." (Reuters)

Eight days in a lift

Police and firefighters in Spain have rescued a woman who spent eight days trapped in the lift of her apartment building, police have said.

The 35-year-old was found conscious but disorientated and was taken to hospital after she was found in the private lift in the town of Sitges near the northeastern city of Barcelona, police said.

The police were alerted by relatives in Madrid who had reported her missing, and then heard her cries for help when they visited the building.

Police said it was not clear how the woman, who lived alone, managed to survive for that length of time.

The lift had apparently stalled due to an electrical fault. (AFP)

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